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| <title>Office of the President 99 Community letter</title> | |
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| <h1>Office of the President <img src="sepbar-5.gif" width="600" height="10"></h1> | |
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| <td width="73%"><strong>January 4, 1999</strong><p><font size="5">Community Letter </font></p> | |
| <p>Dear Colleague:</p> | |
| <p>Whatever else Washington, DC is, it is many things both bad and good. But today it is | |
| indisputably a lively and troubled place—particularly for those of us interested in | |
| our nation’s political system. Yes, the capitol city, and especially its political | |
| and media insiders, often are out of sync with the rest of us, yet significant things | |
| happen here—and eventually they impact virtually all Americans. The November | |
| congressional elections suggested that President Bill Clinton would, Phoenix-like, | |
| survive, emerging singed but not fatally burned from the fires of the Monica Lewinsky | |
| scandal. And now the House of Representatives has impeached him, and he and our nation | |
| await a Senate trial and the possible removal of the President. Whatever the final | |
| outcome—which is unlikely to end in a presidential ouster—one thing seems clear: | |
| in a de facto "sense of the nation" fashion the President has already been | |
| severely censured; if not fatally burned, he is negatively branded and his Presidency | |
| weakened.</p> | |
| <p>And regardless of what happens in the great impeachment story, few of us would have | |
| predicted a few months ago that the first and most dramatic casualty of the bitter | |
| Washington political wars would be, not Bill Clinton, but House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The | |
| so-called Republican Revolution of 1994 is over—and, by the way, the interests of | |
| American higher education have fared quite well despite the partisan changes. The person | |
| almost certain to be the new House Speaker, Representative J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, | |
| will surely be, as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said of the Soviet Leader | |
| Mikhail Gorbachev, "a man we can work with." The incoming 106<sup>th</sup> | |
| Congress reflects the recent status quo election, and the tenuous six vote Republican | |
| majority, fused with a weakened president, suggests that there will be few major | |
| initiatives enacted on any topic. In short, the legislative and appropriations outcomes | |
| are likely to be status quo or modest.</p> | |
| <p> <u>Higher Education on the Federal Scene: Outcomes and Prospects</u></p> | |
| <p>There is good news to report. As seemed evident during the past congressional session, | |
| the 1998 Higher Education Reauthorization, while obviously not written as many of us would | |
| prefer on every point, was nevertheless a plus for the total higher education community. | |
| The most important positive outcome involved student financial aid and the reduction in | |
| the interest</p> | |
| <p>charges that students pay on their loans—unfortunately but necessarily an | |
| essential part of the federal financial assistance program. Relatedly, the budget | |
| appropriations also provided a modest increase in the Pell Grants, and the reauthorization | |
| legislation significantly raises the authorized (or theoretical) ceiling on Pell Grants.</p> | |
| <p>Among the many other provisions in the 1998 Reauthorization warranting attention are | |
| clear signals of congressional interest in the quality of teacher education programs; | |
| these include requiring reports on how well the graduates of education college programs do | |
| in receiving certification in their respective states. Similarly, the reauthorization also | |
| demonstrates continuing legislative interest—fortunately free of mandatory | |
| prescriptions—on how well universities do in holding costs down and moderating | |
| tuition increases. </p> | |
| <p>With the basic legislative charter for higher education now settled for the next five | |
| years the next focus of attention by the Washington-based associations will be on what | |
| technically is called "negotiated rule-making." This involves drafting of the | |
| often arcane, indeed boring, but extraordinarily important rules of implementation that | |
| govern the student financial assistance programs—rules that, depending on how they | |
| are written and interpreted, can be either helpful or harmful.</p> | |
| <u><p>The 106<sup>th</sup> Congress: An Alert</u></p> | |
| <p>If the news from last year was basically good, we need to be alert as the 106<sup>th</sup> | |
| Congress convenes. The President’s FY 2000 budget proposal may cause serious problems | |
| for the student assistance programs. There are early indications that the President’s | |
| budget will propose an increase in total discretionary spending of about $9.6 | |
| billion—requiring offsets by cuts in other programs. If so, federal funding for | |
| student aid programs may be severely at risk. The danger is that previously promised | |
| support for Pell Grants may disappear, and that the so-called Campus Based | |
| Programs—the Leveraging Educational Assistance Program (LEAP) and the Supplemental | |
| Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)—which attract matching campus and state | |
| contributions could well be either reduced or "zeroed out," that is, completely | |
| eliminated. If such proposals emerge, we and the other higher education associations will | |
| have to work hard and fast with many of you to protect the nation’s student aid | |
| programs, by insisting that Congress and the White House honor their commitments to make | |
| higher education access a reality for as many Americans as possible.</p> | |
| <p>We need also to remain vigilant about the continuing need to obtain significant | |
| investments in research, both the so-called basic as well as the more applied or mission | |
| oriented research. Research is one of the crowning achievements of America’s | |
| universities, and it is literally the intellectual seed corn of our country’s | |
| economic and social well being. Recent appropriations for the National Institutes of | |
| Health and the National Science Foundation have been positive, but they are no reason to | |
| rest. Political puffery aside, the federal budget clearly is not balanced in reality (even | |
| if it is theoretically), and we will see continuing pressures to cut taxes as well as make | |
| tough financial decisions affecting the huge entitlement programs such as social security | |
| and Medicare.</p> | |
| <p>Fortunately there is one nice feature in Washington landscape that affects higher | |
| education positively: the tenure of Secretary of Education Richard Riley. He has been a | |
| delight to work with because of his openness, sincere desire to promote not himself but an | |
| education agenda, and willingness to do the best for all of American education under often | |
| fickle and treacherous circumstances. He is very simply the best Education Secretary we | |
| have had.</p> | |
| <u><p>Agricultural Science and Education Programs</u></p> | |
| <p>Though I rarely comment on programs targeted to a particular research or educational | |
| need, one aspect of a major federal research support program increasingly disturbs me and | |
| many other university leaders. It is that, while most other federal research programs have | |
| either held their own or increased in recent years, we have witnessed a steady, if not | |
| dramatic, decline in real federal funding that supports our land-grant programs in | |
| agricultural research, education, and extension. Especially revealing is the fact that, | |
| despite various congressional proposals to double federal funding for science research | |
| over the next five or six years, there has been a striking absence of any reference in | |
| these proposals to food and agriculture. Of course, we strongly support these proposals, | |
| but we must also create a greater national and congressional awareness of the need to | |
| increase investment in food and agricultural science programs.</p> | |
| <p>For this reason, the NASULGC Board of Directors has appointed a task force to explore | |
| potential avenues to create a greater national awareness about agricultural science and to | |
| recommend steps we might take to do this. The Board and I are grateful that Chancellor | |
| Larry Vanderhoef of the University of California at Davis will chair this effort, joined | |
| by three other chief executive officers: President Clinton Bristow of Alcorn A&M, | |
| President M. Peter McPherson of Michigan State University, and President Sam Smith of | |
| Washington State University. </p> | |
| <p>The task force will be staffed by Mortimer Neufville, who directs our federal food and | |
| related programs, and other colleagues, joined by a broad-based group of university | |
| representatives. Their task is to take a close look at whether our historic or traditional | |
| case on the role of food and agriculture research and education in the national science | |
| agenda needs to be adjusted to the new challenges of the twenty-first century; to | |
| recommend a strategic plan for communicating the national interest in increasing support | |
| in these vital areas; and to suggest ways for more effective advocacy between our | |
| university food and agriculture community and the decision makers from the congressional | |
| appropriations and science committees and the federal and executive branch fiscal decision | |
| makers.</p> | |
| <p>At one level these issues speak to the mission of the traditional land-grant colleges | |
| and universities, but ultimately they play an essential role in the national science and | |
| education agenda and involve all of America’s universities, and most especially those | |
| in the public sector. </p> | |
| <u><p>Another Challenge; Another Committee</u></p> | |
| <p>In my last letter I commented at some length about the strange and wonderful world of | |
| cyber education and what it means for universities. Without rehashing those | |
| thoughts—though repetition can be a part of the educational process—I am more | |
| convinced than ever that the entire arena of cyber education and the impact of the | |
| information technologies represent an enormous challenge and opportunity for our colleges | |
| and universities. Therefore, the NASULGC Board and I concluded that the association could | |
| profit from some guidance on how we might address the impact of the information | |
| technologies on our fundamental educational mission. Many of these questions are already | |
| being pursued effectively by two of our existing commissions, those dealing with | |
| information technologies and outreach and technology transfer. But we need also to examine | |
| carefully how the new world of cyber education may alter the traditional mission of our | |
| state and land-grant universities. </p> | |
| <p>The Task Force on Cyber Education chaired by President Molly Corbett Broad of the | |
| University of North Carolina will help us understand how we can maximize the positive | |
| impact of the information technologies on higher education. This task force includes a | |
| number of university presidents and heads of major organizations working in this arena, | |
| including Brian Hawkins, president of EDUCAUSE, and Kay Kohl, executive director of the | |
| University Continuing Education Association, along with a broad-based group of other | |
| professionals. They will address these broad questions: <ul> | |
| <li>Should our association take on the general issues of cyber education in a formal manner | |
| for the purpose of providing guidance and leadership to our member institutions?</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>If the answer is yes, what would be the most appropriate structure within NASULGC to | |
| address these issues, and how do we link such a proposed activity to our other commissions | |
| and councils that already are working with elements of these questions?</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Equally important, we need to carefully address how our universities link themselves | |
| with the many business that are major promoters and distributors of the information | |
| technologies--and with which we already have diverse partnerships. Obviously, the arena of | |
| information technologies and the emerging cyber education distribution system (which also | |
| has implications for how we perform our outreach work and our research activities) is | |
| changing almost daily. Therefore, we must develop proposals that will serve us, say, for | |
| the next 15 or 20 years. But we who rightfully pride ourselves on adaptability and | |
| creativity need to be proactive as well as simply responsive to these fast-paced | |
| developments.</p> | |
| <u><p>The Endless Issue: Diversity and Affirmative Action</u></p> | |
| <p>The questions surrounding race, gender, and affirmative action or diversity are endless | |
| because they are so important, controversial, and part of our obligation to promote true | |
| educational opportunity for all Americans. They are controversial because of resistance to | |
| the dream of full inclusion of educational opportunity by those who cannot escape racism; | |
| but they are also </p> | |
| <p>controversial because of opposition by those who genuinely believe that attention to | |
| race in admitting students and hiring faculty must not occur through such "bad" | |
| things as quotas, which most of us oppose. Critics also oppose any admission programs that | |
| use race in <u>any</u> way, even when the objective is to serve all Americans thereby | |
| strengthening our economy and society. </p> | |
| <p>First, as we know, came Proposition 209 in California. Then came the federal decisions | |
| in the <i>Hopwood </i>case restricting the discretion of the University of Texas and of | |
| three states (Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) to affirmatively recruit minority students | |
| for selective educational programs. Now, courtesy of the recent elections, comes | |
| Initiative 200 in the state of Washington—which essentially, as a matter of | |
| legislation rather than constitutional amendment, copies the California proposition that | |
| eliminated the race sensitive admissions programs of the University of California. And | |
| there are other legal and political challenges to these admissions programs coming | |
| forward, particularly a major case involving the University of Michigan.</p> | |
| <p>This issue was one of the major topics discussed by the Council of Presidents at the | |
| recent Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Presentations by President Brit Kirwan of The Ohio State | |
| University, President Dolores Spikes of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and | |
| President Sam Smith of Washington State University provided the platform for an intense | |
| conversation on our fundamental obligation to promote full educational opportunity and a | |
| rich cultural and ethnic diversity in college classrooms. The presidents offered practical | |
| illustrations on possible ways to maintain and expand diversity—even if all formal, | |
| explicitly racial categories in admission and hiring decisions are, at some point, | |
| unequivocally eliminated by legal and legislative actions. Most of us oppose such an | |
| outcome as interference with educational and academic discretion that has long been | |
| accorded for colleges and universities. But if that is the end result, my sense of the | |
| presidential discussion—and the emerging reality—is that we must find other | |
| means to achieve cultural and racial diversity. </p> | |
| <p>This leads me to the important book by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok, <i>The Shape of | |
| the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions</i>. | |
| Its study of race sensitive admissions in selective universities, including a number of | |
| major public universities, has attracted both criticism and praise. However, the issues it | |
| examines and its authors’ conclusions speak to the totality of American higher | |
| education. Those of you who have read the book know that the two former presidents who led | |
| this study conclude—on the basis of some hard-headed data—that race-sensitive | |
| admission policies have indeed increased the number of minority graduates entering | |
| professions and assuming positions of civic and community leadership. This, of course, is | |
| in a nation that will soon be one-third Black and Hispanic. The authors argue that | |
| diversity in the classroom (and they favor limited race-sensitive admissions for selective | |
| programs) fosters an educational environment that helps all students learn to live and | |
| work successfully in our multi-racial society. </p> | |
| <p>As we work on this central educational issue, we should never lose sight of the fact | |
| that widespread diversity in <u>all</u> American universities depends, perhaps even more | |
| than "race- sensitive" admissions, on adequate financial assistance, and letting | |
| potential students, especially low income populations, know that it is available. Put | |
| another way, if California’s Proposition 209, Washington’s Initiative 200, and | |
| the <i>Hopwood</i> decision miraculously disappeared, without adequate financial aid for | |
| lower income persons diversity and full educational opportunity would </p> | |
| <p>remain an unfulfilled promise. Perhaps it is too easy to say that this is | |
| "the" single most important issue facing American higher education and society. | |
| But I cannot think of anything more important than the issue of access and opportunity for | |
| all Americans—all of whose talents must be nurtured and brought forth.</p> | |
| <u><p>The Annual Meeting </u></p> | |
| <p>Undoubtedly as for many others, I always leave the NASULGC Annual Meeting exhilarated | |
| and exhausted: exhilarated because it reaffirms the invaluable educational programs | |
| produced by great state and land-grant universities. It is also exhausting because it | |
| presents so much stimulation, so many ideas, so many difficult challenges, and so much to | |
| do—and yet, no less than you, I would have it no other way. The Atlanta gathering | |
| presented many outstanding programs and speakers, including our two major speakers, | |
| Governor Zell Miller of Georgia, and Alex Shumate, former chair of The Ohio State | |
| University Board of Trustees.</p> | |
| <p>Georgia Governor Miller, this nation’s number one education governor, reminded us | |
| with eloquence and practical examples that full educational opportunity is a moral and | |
| practical imperative in a world where knowledge is <u>the</u> key to economic and social | |
| success. Governor Miller, who has "walked" the inspirational "talk" he | |
| gave, reminded us also never to forget what education must be about:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>"What education really needs to give to students is a mind that is by habit | |
| questing and inquisitive..a mind that sorts out new information and integrates it with | |
| what is already known..a mind that is not only comfortable with change and diversity, but | |
| anticipates it and even seeks it out…a mind that will be the foundation for the | |
| lifelong intellectual inquiry that will serve its owner well, not only as a job skill, but | |
| in all other aspects of life.</p> | |
| <p>As we look to the 21<sup>st</sup> century, it is absolutely essential that our students | |
| learn to negotiate a complex economic and technological environment. And higher education | |
| must strengthen its programs to meet the demands of a technology-driven, global economy. | |
| But at the same time, we dare not forget that education is about more than money. And what | |
| you do on each one of your campuses must be as essential to living as it is to | |
| earning."</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p>Similarly compelling was the prescription offered by Alex Shumate. It requires engaged | |
| universities with strong academic leadership and governance by involved, but not | |
| managerial, boards of trustees. He, too, gave us a valuable reminder of the challenges | |
| before us, which with strong leadership will be met:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>"More than at any other time in recent history, we are being called upon to | |
| justify, and to preserve our legacy of world-class teaching, research and public service. | |
| We are being challenged to establish--and to meet-higher expectations, yet to operate with | |
| more limited resources.</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>We are being urged to strengthen the link between discovery and learning, and to | |
| improve the connection between education and career. We are rediscovering the importance | |
| of making our institutions more responsive, and of making the benefits of higher education | |
| real, relevant, and reachable for all of our citizens.</p> | |
| <p>And we are asking the difficult questions about how our institutions are being | |
| governed--searching to find the elusive answers that allow us to eliminate the boundaries | |
| that discourage teamwork, make our institutions more organizationally fit, and build | |
| strategic alliances that engage the citizens and communities we serve."</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <u><p>The Kellogg Commission</u></p> | |
| <p>In starting this letter, I vowed that for once there would not be any reference to the | |
| Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities. Unashamedly, I | |
| break the promise! The conversation on the last morning of the Annual Meeting, cosponsored | |
| by six councils and four commissions, demonstrated why this project dedicated to | |
| reaffirmation and change within our state and land-grant universities is one of the most | |
| important activities we sponsor. It included an overview by Penn State President Graham | |
| Spanier, the commission’s chair; a presentation by President Martin Jischke of Iowa | |
| State of why engagement of universities with their society must be a mainstream priority | |
| for the twenty-first century; and an assessment of the commission’s activities by | |
| Oregon State President Emeritus John Byrne, the commission’s executive director. | |
| These presentations were powerful statements of the changes underway and being led by | |
| these and many other presidential colleagues around the country. The formal statements are | |
| available on the NASULGC website devoted to the Kellogg Commission; it can be located at <a HREF="index.html">www.nasulgc.org</a>.</p> | |
| <p>I want to express gratitude to these and the other presidents who have given so much of | |
| their precious time to the Kellogg Commission, but the real gratitude is not merely | |
| personal. It is professional, because the work of this commission—really a process of | |
| discussion and involvement with so many of our leaders in all of our public | |
| universities—is the real issue. My sense of its value came not only from the | |
| presentations but from the questions and contributions from the various councils and | |
| commissions and their leaders—ultimately the ones who will make this process of | |
| revitalization a reality. The work of the commission lies not in what the commission does | |
| or says, but what our academic leaders in all kinds of roles and responsibilities at our | |
| public universities actually do. I believe that in various ways, tailored to individual | |
| circumstances, this is beginning to happen. It was surely no coincidence that | |
| approximately 450 persons attended this session—on the closing hours of the Annual | |
| Meeting.</p> | |
| <u><p>Final Thoughts</u></p> | |
| <p>Whimsy appeals to me, so I noted with some amusement a term used at a conference on the | |
| obligation of universities to face the environmental challenges plaguing our coasts and | |
| land areas when hurricanes and tornadoes wreak their havoc. At the symposium jointly | |
| sponsored by us, </p> | |
| <p>the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the American Geophysical | |
| Union, I learned that the dedicated men and women who study and try to ameliorate these | |
| changes are labeled "hazard professionals." And they are, but it also seems to | |
| me that the chancellors and presidents of our universities also deserve this title.</p> | |
| <p>We are now at the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> century—a year in which, perhaps, the | |
| nationally corrosive and destructive politics in Washington will somewhat abate. | |
| Hopefully, too, we will escape the dangers of the Y2K problem. That challenge is beyond my | |
| (and your) control, but I can confidently do one thing: extend my personal regards and | |
| best wishes for a fruitful 1999.</p> | |
| <p>As always, your comments, ideas, and suggestions are welcomed.</p> | |
| <p>With all best wishes.</p> | |
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| <blockquote> | |
| <p align="left">C. Peter Magrath<br> | |
| President</p> | |
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| <p>CPM/jlr</p> | |
| <p> </td> | |
| <td width="29%"><blockquote> | |
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| <p> </p> | |
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